Running Wild

Chp 9

The seasons came and went and with them I grew. I quickly surprised Holly in height. The colts I'd played with the first year had all gotten kicked from the herd the morning of their fourth birthday. It's been six months since the four year old colts left the herd and things have been quiet. Cara brought her family -her mate and her daughter and son- shortly after we'd joined the herd and after that they visited every week or so.

"Cal!" Josie called, trotting over with her ears perked. We'd become best friends once she was actually able to talk.
"Oh hey Josie, is everything ok?" I inquired, my tail flicking the flies away.
"Ryder wants to leave to the winter meadow. Says it's best to leave before it gets too cold." She explained.
"It's only because the humans who live nearby will put up hay bales when it gets really cold." I nickered amusedly as we began making our way closer to the rest of the herd, making small talk with Josie as we went.

When we were about twenty strides from the herd a piercing noise filled the nearly silent air, followed by the rushing sound of horses hoofbeats on the ground. Ryder came galloping over, nipping at the mares' heels as he passed.
"Ryder? What's going on?" I asked, trotting uneasily towards him while Josie galloped to Nikita.
"The humans are doing a round up, i have to keep the mares and foals away from them." He explained quickly, nudging my shoulder to urge me forward.

I glanced back, only to find a dozen or so men on horseback, galloping towards the herd with their faces twisted oddly.
"Run Caliban!" Ryder snapped, charging at the men to distract them.
"Ryder I can help!" I called to him, narrowly avoiding a rope one of the men threw.
"I need you to get the herd away from them." He snorted in anger and slammed his body against one of the men's horses, ears pinned in a violent anger I'd never seen from him before.

I galloped after the herd uneasily, looping around in the back to ensure no one got left behind. I nipped at an older mares heels as the men gained on us, Ryder having been distracted with dodging the ropes they continued to throw, only to find Nikita's foal -Dakota- falling behind.
His muscles shook and his ears twitched constantly, the fear blatantly obvious in the whites of his eyes.

I raced over and gently nudged his barrel in encouragement, giving him a friendly nicker.
"Momma!" He whinnied, beating his hooves against the ground slower with each stride.
"Dakota, listen closely ok? You're going to be ok. But you have to keep running or those men will catch you."
"B-but-"
"I know you're scared, I am too. But soon it will be over and your parents will be with you again ok?"
"Ok..."

I watched as he pushed himself harder, his lanky legs gaining ground rather than losing it. Satisfied, I turned to make my way around once more as Ryder ran up to me.
"They have to gather their ropes together again, we have time, but it's very limited."
"Dakota almost fell behind, but I think he'll be ok for a bit." I informed him, running alongside him.
"Where is he?"
"To the right. We should definitely be keeping an eye on him." Ryder nodded, tilting his body towards his son, only to look back at me as a strange 'whoosh' sound zipped overhead.

"Ryder-" my question was cut off as a rope settled on my neck and grew taut, making it much harder than it should have been to run.
"Cal!"
An ear piercing neigh escaped my lips the moment I'd realized what had happened. I'd been caught by the humans.

I quickly realized the man who held the rope wrapped around my neck had looped it around something he had put on the horses back before he began kicking the horse in the opposite direction. The adrenaline pumping through my veins subsided slightly and allowed my vision to clear passed the tunnel vision.
At least ten horses from the herd -a few older mares, two of the pregnant ones, three foals of which were barely weanlings, and myself- were being held by the men with ropes, their faces grim. The foals cried out for their dams, only for their voices to be carried away by the sound of hoof beats against the grassy floor.

"Let's get 'em back men. It's almost dinner time." The man with my rope called to the others, wrapping more of it around the thing he sat on.
He let out a sharp noise -not unlike the one that started this whole thing- and they began making their way back wherever they come, the herd members fighting as best as they could to get away.
The cries of the foals and the huffs of the pregnant mares fell on deaf ears as panic rose in my chest. I was being taken from the only family I'd ever known.

My steps faltered occasionally, which caused the rope to get tighter around my throat. The man didn't seem bothered, even as I paused to take a couple deep breaths.
"C'mon you stupid beast." The man snapped, tossing the rest of his end of the rope at one of the pregnant mares. She shrieked and shied away from the offender as I surged forward, ears pinned, ready to attack him.
He shook his head and tugged on my rope roughly, the rest of the men making a strange, nicker-like sound.